A reciprocating hammer may be used on a work site to break up hard objects, such as rocks, concrete, asphalt, frozen ground, or the like. The reciprocating hammer may be mounted to a machine, such as an excavator, a backhoe, or the like. Alternatively, the reciprocating hammer may be included in a hand-operated machine, such as a jackhammer. The reciprocating hammer may include a piston configured to repeatedly strike a work tool via reciprocating movement inside a housing. The work tool may extend from the housing to engage and break up the hard objects. During operation of the reciprocating hammer, various components of the reciprocating hammer may wear out or break down. This may cause an acceleration of the piston to decrease over time, which may reduce the effectiveness of the reciprocating hammer. Such reduced acceleration may indicate that maintenance should be performed to repair the reciprocating hammer. Additionally, or alternatively, the reduced acceleration may indicate that the reciprocating hammer is being operated in a less-than-optimal manner (e.g., the reciprocating hammer is being operated at an angle other than perpendicular to a work surface).
However, an operator of the reciprocating hammer may not know the acceleration of the piston, and may rely on feel to determine when to perform maintenance on the reciprocating hammer or to determine an appropriate angle for operating the reciprocating hammer. Relying on feel or expertise of the operator may be unreliable. Alternatively, the operator may adhere to a maintenance schedule, which may also be unreliable and may cause maintenance to be performed more often or less often than necessary, thereby increasing cost and/or reducing the effectiveness of the reciprocating hammer.
One attempt to detect a need for maintaining a hydraulic hammer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,170,317 that issued to Juuri on Jan. 9, 2001 (“the '317 patent”). In particular, the '317 patent discloses an arrangement for indicating a need for maintaining a hydraulic breaking apparatus, which includes means for measuring at least one parameter describing the loading of the hydraulic breaking apparatus. The '317 patent also discloses an indicator which is specific for each hydraulic breaking apparatus and which is arranged to indicate visually, for example by means of LED lamps, that the parameter measured has exceeded a limit value determined in advance for maintenance.
While the arrangement of the '317 patent may be used to measure a parameter in association with maintaining a hydraulic breaking apparatus, the arrangement of the '317 patent includes an indicator, placed in connection with the hydraulic breaking apparatus, that provides a visual indication that the measured parameter exceeds a limit value determined in advance for maintenance. Such an indicator, fastened directly to the hydraulic breaking apparatus, may be difficult for an operator to see during operation of the breaking apparatus. Furthermore, the arrangement of the '317 patent may use a separate power source that can be charged in connection with each maintenance. Such a power source may limit the duration during which the arrangement is capable of measuring the parameter.
The diagnostic system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.